Short Stories of the Care Bear Family
by NebulaBelt
Summary: A collection of three short stories about various members of the Care Bear Family and how they interact with each other. The second story is up! Just a brief look at a certain bunny and the Care Bears she’s usually seen with.
1. Proud Heart Cat and Loyal Heart Dog

This is the first of three short stories about various members of the Care Bear Family and how they interact with each other. Enjoy!

I do not own the Care Bears, if I did, I wouldn't be so gloomy all the time.

Short Stories of the Care Bear Family

Part I of III: "Like Cats and Dogs"

"Pleeeaase Proud Heart?"

"For the last time Loyal Heart, no!"

"Don't make me beg." Proud Heart Cat sighed. This wasn't how she had planned to spend her day off. A day at the beach seemed like a great idea, Loyal Heart Dog joining her at the last minute hadn't been in her initial plan, but wasn't a problem. The fact that he was constantly interrupting her grooming so she could play fetch with him, however, _was_.

"Loyal Heart," she said, looking at him over the top of her sunglasses. "Does it _look_ like I'm about to play with you?"

"Please?" He tried once more. "Don't make me use the puppy face, you know you can't resist the puppy face." Loyal warned.

"Why do you think I brought the sunglasses?" Proud Heart asked rhetorically. It was no use though. Loyal Heart puffed out his lower lip and started to pout, whimpering like a dog locked out in the rain scratching at the door. As bad as that was, nothing could prepare Proud Heart for the huge, sickeningly adorable puppy dog eyes.

"Eraagh! Alright, alright!" Proud Heart relented. "You win, okay? Just…cut…that…out! I'm getting cavities, that face is so saccharine!"

"Nothing can stand against the puppy face!" Loyal Heart boasted proudly, as though he had just scored a major victory.

"Maybe you should try using it on No Heart sometime." Proud Heart grumbled as she left her sunglasses on her towel, taking a minute to sit up and stretch in a cat-like manner. "Might as well get this over with."

Picking up the Frisbee Loyal Heart had brought with him—decorated with his own tummy symbol, Proud Heart noticed—She threw it out over the beach. Loyal Heart dashed through the sand, leaped, and caught it…in his teeth.

"Typical." Proud Heart commented pointedly as he brought it back, still in his mouth. "If you expect me to handle a drool covered Frisbee, you're sadly mistaken."

"Sowwy," He apologized around a mouthful of Frisbee. He spat is out and hastily wiped the offending saliva off. "Again?"

"Fine." She grabbed the Frisbee and, not looking first, threw it as hard as she could. Loyal Heart chased it, his eyes fixed on the spinning disc and little else.

Proud Heart managed to see the problem before he did. "Loyal Heart! Watch out! You're about to fall into that-!"

"WHOA!" Loyal Heart yipped as he fell in.

"-Tide pool." She finished lamely as she covered her eyes. Peeking, she looked through her fingers to see Loyal Heart sputtering in the waist deep water and then, laughing.

"Canines." Proud Heart sighed. "No dignity, no class at all." If it had been her that fell in, she would've been furious and would spend the rest of her day off getting her fur back the way she wanted it.

"Come on in Proud Heart!" Loyal called, finally retrieving his Frisbee. "The water's great!"

Proud Heart just sniffed. "If you think for one minute that I'm going to join you then you're crazier than Playful Heaaaaart-!" She yelled as he pulled her in by her paw.

Sputtering, she pointed her finger at him angrily. "You…you…" Unable to find the right words to describe just how furious she was, she just shoved Loyal Heart, who tripped and went under. Worse, when he came back up he was laughing, which just made Proud Heart angrier. In fact, she was so angry that she…that she…started laughing too.

"You…you, _creep_!" She said in between gales of laughter. "I ought to clobber you!"

Loyal Heart laughed too, holding his damp head fur out of his eyes; which, incidentally, made him look so ridiculous that Proud Heart started laughing all over again.

"Glad to be of service, my lady." He bowed, a gesture that was coming from a pint-sized drenched blue dog waist deep in water, should have looked equally ridiculous, yet it didn't.

"And I thought chivalry was dead." Proud Heart said.

"Not dead, just drenched." Loyal Heart corrected, deadpan. Proud Heart laughed. Just when had she grown so fond of the honorable "Knight of Caring," as he was often called, only partially in jest?

Thinking back, she supposed that it started with one of their earliest caring missions, back when the Care Bears and the Cousins weren't that widely known or respected. Proud Heart had been paired with Loyal Heart and sent to help a boy from a broken family that had turned to bullying.

It had not been a pleasant mission. At first the boy had been very stubborn and angry, suggesting that Proud Heart go lick herself. Loyal Heart, as angry as Proud Heart had ever seen him, had defended her honor and took the kid to task. Apparently anger worked where conciliation hadn't and the mission ended up being a success.

Proud Heart was amazed because up till then she had gone out of her way to be something of a tease, constantly making jokes that Loyal Heart marked his territory, drank out of toilet bowls, sniffed butts, chewed his own, chased his tail, shredded newspapers, drooled, and so on.

She stopped after that, well, mostly anyway. Proud Heart had to admit that he was sort of cute. If anyone asked her she would have vehemently denied it, but under her bed, where she kept her diary, she kept the flower Loyal Heart had given to her so long ago pressed inside.

Her inner musings were cut off when Loyal Heart decided to dry himself off in a typically canine manner, namely by shaking his fur out and wetting everything in a ten-foot radius.

"Loyal Heart…" Proud Heart growled, mostly in mock anger as she shook herself off in turn. "I'm going to get you-"

"You'll have to catch me first!" He laughed as he dashed off, splashing water as he ran through the tide pool. Proud Heart chased after him, laughing as well as the two of them frolicked in the surf.

To be continued…


	2. Swift Heart Rabbit and Grumpy Bear

Short Stories of the Care Bear Family

Part II of III: "Swift Heart and the Three Bears (Well, Two Bears and one Elephant)"

"Come on Swift Heart, we're almost there." Good Luck steered the blindfolded bunny. "No peeking."

"What's this all about Good Luck? It's not my birthday, Birthday Bear would've given it away by now."

"You'll see, come on." Swift Heart felt Good Luck's paws on her shoulders, gently steering her towards her still unknown destination.

"Why can't you just tell me where we're going? That way I could get us both there, quick as a bunny!"

"Nu-uh, Swift Heart. This is going to be a surprise and that's that." Swift Heart crossed her arms and "Hummphed!" but it was mostly in humor.

After what seemed like an eternity (going anywhere without running seemed to take forever for Swift Heart) Good Luck finally stopped.

"We're here!" He announced as he took off Swift Heart's blindfold.

"Finally!" She said, shaking her ears as the cloth came free. "Now what was so important that you had to-?"

"Surprise!" Swift Heart idly noted her jaw dropping as she saw Lotsa Heart Elephant and Grumpy Bear sitting on a blanket, now joined by Good Luck, picnic baskets beside them.

"What's this about?" She asked.

"Well we thought that no one's really sat down and told you just how great a friend you've been."

"Of course that could just be because you never stay still long enough for anyone to tell you." Grumpy added.

"You guys are so sweet! But, um…what is it you're talking about?" Swift Heart asked.

"Well, remember when we met the Pandas?" Good Luck asked. "You were right with me the whole time." He chuckled suddenly. "You were one the main reason I told Polite how I felt about her."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he told her just to get you to stop teasing him about it!" Grumpy said. Good Luck smiled weakly since there was more than a little truth in the statement.

"In any case," Good Luck continued. "There was also the whole Wonderland incident-"

"Don't remind me." Grumpy moaned. Good Luck ignored him.

"You were right there the whole time. I don't know how we would have gotten thorough it without you."

"And that's the truth!" Lotsa Heart added.

"Of course if it wasn't for _your_ uncle we never would have been there in the first place either." Grumpy said.

"Uh, that's the truth too." Lotsa admitted.

"You guys," Good Luck sighed. This wasn't going the way he planned. The fact that Swift Heart was snickering at the whole thing was not helping.

"Well anyway," Good Luck said, forgetting his place in his little speech, "We thought that, er-that you well…oh skip it, let's eat!"

"Best thing he's said all day." Grumpy said as he offered Swift Heart a carrot.

"Thanks." Swift Heart said as she sat down and started munching on her lunch. "So, you basically dragged me out here to have lunch and tell me how good a friend I was, hmm?"

"Well it sounded better when we were putting it together." Good Luck admitted.

"It was great, don't worry about it." Swift Heart assured him. "But seriously, what brought this on?"

"Well, remember what happened after Lotsa won the big race?" Swift Heart nodded. Her own foolish arrogance cost her the race and nearly cost the family the Kingdom of Caring. "You're speech was really great."

"So was that gift you got me, and that's the truth!" Lotsa added. Swift Heart smiled. It wasn't hard to figure that his favorite movie was _Dumbo_.

"And remember when the Pandas had to return to their valley?" Good Luck said. "You took went on some of my Caring Missions for me just so I could go visit. It was really great what you did."

"Aww, stop you're embarrassing me!" Swift Heart smirked. She turned to Grumpy.

"And you? What's on your mind Grumpy?" Swift Heart asked. The blue bear rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat.

"Well, there was after Wonderland and you, um-well…I guess I wanted to thank you that."

Good Luck scratched his head. "I don't remember her giving you anything. Do you Lotsa?" The pink elephant shook his head. Swift Heart stuck her bottom lip out in a mock pout.

"Awww, you mean you never told them?" She asked. Good Luck and Lotsa blinked in amazement at the sight of Grumpy blushing.

"Well, I-I er, didn't think—" Grumpy trailed off when Swift Heart leaned over and gave him a full-blown kiss on the lips. Good Luck felt his jaw drop and saw Lotsa Heart's do the same.

"You know what, Lotsa?" Good Luck numbly asked.

"What?"

"Grumpy's right: These things always _do_ happen to him!"

"And that's the truth!"


End file.
